Breaking the Fourth Wall
by poeticgrace
Summary: After Pam breaks down, a documentarian breaks the fourth wall to provide a little comfort.


He was a documentarian. It was in his very job description not to get involved with the subjects, but after nearly a decade of following the every in and out of Dunder Mifflin's employees in Scranton, Brian knew these people nearly as well as he knew his own family and friends. He also knew that he was supposed to be impartial, but he had always had a soft spot for Pam. Some on the crew joked that she was his favorite, and in a lot of ways, he supposed that she was.

She had been the epicenter for the drama in those beginning days when their loyal audience had wavered between her allegiance to fiancee Roy and secret crush for best friend Jim. Brian had watched her secretly hold a flame for Jim, get crushed when he moved to Stamford, have her feelings finally returned after his failed interview at corporate, head to New York for art school, get engaged, get married, become a mother. He had been there for all of that and rarely ever said a word outside interviews. That was his job, but this was enough.

"Let's turn the cameras off," he declared as he sat down the boom and started to approach a quietly sobbing Pam. It was nearly unprecedented. They had very few moments of total radio silence, when Dwight his MRI and at the airport when Michael headed to Denver. "Seriously, guys, enough. Enough."

Brian knelt down by her side as she tearfully asked what she had done wrong. He didn't have the words that would console her. He had watched her trying to keep it together for months. Jim had been a part-time salesman, part-time husband and part-time father since early fall. Pam had been hanging by a very delicate string for awhile, especially since the beginning of the year, and this angry phone call had been enough to send both of the Halperts flailing over the edge.

"I tried to film it, I've been trying," she cried. "He should have been there! It's his fault that he missed it, not mine. He keeps telling me that he's doing this for me, Brian, but it was never about the kids and me. This was his dream. We had a great living here, we were doing just fine. We should celebrating about the mural. He should have been there for our daughter. He should be here for me."

He knew that he shouldn't say anything, but it didn't stop him from letting a few words slip out. "You're not wrong, Pam," he reassured her softly. He heard one of the camera guys clearing his voice behind him, but Brian just glared up at the crew. He had seen the tapes of Jim hanging out with Dr. J while Pam was dealing with the lice back in Scranton. He had been privy to all the phone call he'd made behind her back that led her to finding out he was thinking about moving to Philadelphia. Jim was letting her do this on her own, and Pam just needed to know that someone - anyone - was on her side. Brian couldn't help it; he was on her side.

"Look, I was there last night. I'm sure that I have footage of her performance on film. Give me an hour or so and I can cut something together," he offered. Pam wiped her eyes tiredly with the back of her hand and smiled at him. "It's just one fight, Pam, in a million minutes of you two loving each other. You can get through this."

She looked down at her ring and then over at the photo of her two beautiful children smiling up at her. "You don't need to do that, you shouldn't do that," she acknowledged. The whole staff knew that they weren't supposed to interact with filming crew like this. "In fact, I don't want you to do that for me. If it was important to Jim, he would have been here. He wants to blame me for everything because it's easier than accepting responsibility, but it's time that he starts realizing that he contributed to this problem."

Brian thinks about telling her to give her husband a break, that he's a good guy and everyone makes mistakes. And then he remembers how excited she had been to tell Jim about the mural and the way her entire face crumpled when he started yelling at her. It didn't negate nine years of Jim loving her the right way, but the longevity also didn't excuse his selfish behavior. She had once confided in an interview that she owed it to Jim because he had been so patient while she was at Parsons, but Brian knew that it was different. That had been before they had a house, a marriage, a family, a life to care for. Pam had never pretended that New York had been about their future, and Jim shouldn't pretend now that he wasn't doing this for himself.

He tried to think logically now, slip back into his producer role and ignore his own feelings. It wasn't just Pam and Jim's relationship that he had watched play out. He had seen her deal with Roy. He had seen her be oblivious to Toby's feelings. He had watched those few awkward dates she went on while Jim was still in Connecticut before she gave Roy a second chance. He'd always thought that Pam and Jim were endgame, but what if something else was in store?

"Do you want to go to Philadelphia and see him?" he finally offered. "You can call your mom to stay with the kids. I'll drive you down there myself, we can get some of the interviews done while we're on the road. I can meet up with the rest of the crew there to get some additional filming."

Pam shook her head. "I just want to get my kids and go home."

"Okay, we can wrap for today," he retorted, looking back up at his crew.

"No, that's not how this works," she disagreed immediately. "The show must go on, right? If it was anyone else, you'd have them in that chair in the conference room asking them questions. You have a job to do, I understand that. I won't let my problems be a problem for you."

"It's not," he replied. She looked at him skeptically. "Really, Pam, it's not."

She nodded thoughtfully as she started to gather up the rest of her things. He waited until she had headed to the bathroom to clean herself up before sending the rest of the crew home. He was just packing up the last of his equipment when she came back to her desk to pick up her purse. "Walk me out?"

His silence was his reply as he followed her to the elevator. They rode down in silence and stepped out into the cold January evening. "Thank you for everything, Brian," she whispered softly, grabbing his hand for a moment and squeezing. He ignored the little sparks dancing beneath his skin at her mere touch and managed a sunny smile.

Pam got into her car and waved as she headed down the street. Brian waited until he saw her taillights disappear around the corner before he slipped into his own SUV. He looked forlornly up at the office building and then stated the ignition with a deep sigh. He had watched Pam do a lot of things, and now, he could only hope that "get a divorce" wouldn't be another thing on that list.

_Fin. _


End file.
